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This year has certainly taken its toll on me. I just found out that one of my very good friends nearly drowned and is suffering right now... unfortunately her dad did not make it.
https://www.gofundme.com/2snq2bg
I have some signed shorts....but that's a different matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by SJWhiteley
I'm astonished to say that I hadn't even heard of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
Sandpoints an interesting place. It's kind of a mix of rich, crunchy-granola, types....and aryan nations types. This state is pretty conservative/libertarian, and doesn't seem like a place that would embrace alternative energy...yet we actually are, bit by bit. There's a fair amount of work in solar in the state, though mostly down around Boise. I can't say I'm surprised to hear that a solar roadway project is starting in this state, considering all the other solar infrastructure development, but I am surprised at the location.
That's some rough news.Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
I've been donating to a friend of mine who had a massive stroke this spring. He's actually the guy who replaced me in my last job (an internal move on both of our parts). He's not all that old and has a young daughter who was old enough to understand that something bad happened to her father, but probably not old enough to fully understand what happened. His minds there, but part of his lower brain was removed, which has left him with motor control issues. Fortunately, those are things that the brain tends to be able to work around. I gave him a tablet on Friday so that he could use it as an e-book reader, cause he can read ok. Unfortunately, he's right on the edge of being able to use the thing because of the motor control issues.
Life: It ain't permanent, so don't get too used to it.
While I'm sure some conservative/libertarians are partisan to oil due to ties with money(look at the entire state of Louisiana), I find that the majority in both parties are for alternative energy only with different outlooks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Liberals feel as though a move to alternative energy is imperative due to climate change induced by human activity, in particular the use of oil based products. Conservatives feel as though a move to alternative energy would be nice so long as it doesn't cost more than existing technology. Libertarians feel as though it doesn't matter which energy source you use, just don't encroach on any personal freedoms.
A fair statement of the position. However, what often gets lost in the more emotional side of the argument is the economics of the whole thing. There are people who want to be green because it's the liberal thing to do, and people who oppose green because it's the conservative thing to do. What can get overlooked is that alternative energy necessarily means innovation, and technological innovation is always an economic positive, even if it doesn't change the world. Do it right and going green is good for everybody. That's pretty much what is driving this state.
On the other side of it, we have a fair amount of hydro power, which is such a cheap source of electricity that it's a near thing whether going solar makes sense here, despite living in a desert. Our electricity is already some of the cheapest in the country, which makes the payoff equation for solar a lot tougher.
I'm on the side of keep moving it forward and hoping it turns into something fruitful.
Yeah i think that often gets overlooked, probably the single best thing about so called green energy sources is they are based upon technology which by its very nature is innovative and improves year on year. Solar is much much more cost effective and far better at capturing energy then it was when it first came about, as is wind energy.Quote:
What can get overlooked is that alternative energy necessarily means innovation, and technological innovation is always an economic positive
There has been studies in the UK which show that if you removed all subsidies (as oil and gas are subsidised industries too) then there is very little difference in the cost, and solar and wind get cheaper the more you install, and as we innovate for the next generation of the technology they get even more efficient.
Forget about the politics around it from a purely tech perspective it just makes sense to invest in it and make it part of the energy mix.
62012
Quite true, but as you note, politics plays too big a part of it. There are cons to solar and wind, as well as hydro, which are downplayed, and the hydrocarbon resource has benefits. There are places where solar, wind, hydro, and oil can all live together and be part of the total energy solution. But there will be areas in the world where some of those are simply not viable.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeedSomeAnswers
Then you have some special kind of stupid when you see crack pots holding up some African village completely dependent on a wind mill and a solar cell with no oil usage as if this is a demonstration of how the west has 'failed' in our dependency on oil.
I read an article a while back where an African guy learned to power his village using wind mill technology from reading books in a library that was donated.
The main downside to renewable is generally consistency of supply, the clever energy storage technology that is currently being developed though can mitigate many of those issues.Quote:
Quite true, but as you note, politics plays too big a part of it. There are cons to solar and wind, as well as hydro, which are downplayed, and the hydrocarbon resource has benefits. There are places where solar, wind, hydro, and oil can all live together and be part of the total energy solution. But there will be areas in the world where some of those are simply not viable.
The main benefit of hydrocarbon resources have tended to be price, and if you were a country with a lot of oil, then you had security of supply. However there are not that many countries that have a huge supply of oil or gas left.
On an even more political note, what do y'all think about Julian Assange set to release all of these documents about both candidates and Google?
I feel kind of neutral about it, I could really careless.
The Apple iSolar?Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
Hydro often doesn't live so well with the others simply because hydro can be so much cheaper that it can outcompete the others. The cheapest electricity in this country is the TVA region followed by the Columbia River basin, the two largest hydro developed areas. Wind and solar have to be subsidized to be in the mix, though that is improving as energy demands exceed the ability of the hydro system to provide, since the hydro system won't be expanding....without technological improvements, but even that's coming. River run hydro could change the whole energy landscape.Quote:
Originally Posted by SJWhiteley
I will gladly pay a 200% markup to have Apple's solar technology :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Hasn't he been droned?Quote:
Originally Posted by dday9
I didn't really mean that they are all necessarily in the same locale, but used where it makes sense, and it isn't about the cost of each, necessarily. They are sold as pure 'competitors' to traditional mechanisms, and as alternatives; this is just the wrong word.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
I think that a lot of people miss the boat on hydroelectric power - it's not a primarily energy producer, but a battery (non-river systems). bringing wind and a hydro-dam together, excess wind energy could be stored in the reservoir.
As a side note, does anyone drive a vehicle with e85 capability, and use e85? It's still not quite cheap enough to be economical, for me (gas at 2.20, E85 at 1.70).